Time mechanism for operating gas valves



March 19, 1935. F. LUX 1, 995,070

TIME MECHANISM FOR OPERATING GAS VALVES Filed Nov. .6, 1931 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Fredemck Lux.

BY HIS ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 19, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TIMEMECHANISM FOR O PERATING GAS VALVES Application November 6, 1931, SerialNo. 573,335

10 Claims. (Cl. 161-9) This invention relates to automatic time controlled devices, and more particularly to a time operated mechanismadapted to open and close the master valve of a gas range at anypredetermined times.

One object of this invention is to provide a time operated mechanism ofthe above nature in which the time interval during which the valve willremain open or closed may be adjusted at will.

A further object of the invention is to provide a detachable timeoperated mechanism for a gas range in which all of the gas pet-cocks maybe simultaneously controlled by a single master valve.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of theabove nature in which the master valve may be operated manually as wellas mechanically whenever desired.

A further object is to provide a time operated 20 gas valve attachmentof the above nature which will besimple construction, inexpensive tomanufacture, compact, ornamental in appearance, and very efficient anddurable in.use.

With these and other objects in view there has been illustrated on theaccompanying. drawings, one form in which the invention maybeconveniently embodied in practice.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 represents a perspective view of a gas 30 range with a timeoperated master'valve attached thereto. 7

Fig; 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the master valve andits associated time operated clock mechanism, the casing for the latterbeing shown in section. v

Fig. 3 is a right-hand end View of the same.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the time-operated control mechanism. 7

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section of the master valve.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary diagrammatic perspective view of the operatingmechanism which is located in the bottom part of the clock casing.

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals denotecorresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10'indicates a gas range having a plurality of gas burners 11 adapted to becontrolled by a like number of manually-operated pet-cocks 12 of thecustomary type used in gas ranges. The pet-cocks 12 are each connectedto a pipe 13 extending rearwardly and upwardly to a master overheadvalve 14, which in turn is connected to a pipe 15 1ead-- ing to the gassupply line. The master valve 14 gas range 10, said shelf serving tosupport an automatic time-controlled valve operating mechanism 1'7housed within a casing 17a.

Master gas valve mechanism The master valve 14 includes ,a hollow bodymember 18 having a pairof laterally extending attachment lugs 19 and 20by means of which the valve 14'may be detachably secured to the shelf16, as by a pair of screws 21 and 22. The bodymember 18 is provided inits lower section with a cylindrical valve chamber 23, and in its uppersection'with a' concentric central bore 24 e of smaller diameter, thusproviding a stepped shoulder 25 at the junction pointbetween saidchamber 23and said b'oi'e 24.

The bottom of the valve chamber 23 is tapped and adapted to be closed bya cap member 26, preferably having a hexagonal head 26aand a threadedshank 27 for screwing into the tapped section of said valve chamber 23.A rubber washer '28 or other sealing means may be compressed between thelower face of the body'member 18 and the hexagonal head 26a of the capmember 26. The rear of the body member 18 is provided with a pair ofhorizontal tapped sockets 29 and 30 for receiving the threaded ends ofthe gas supply pipe 15 and the burner supply pipe 13. The upper pipesocket 29 is connected to'the central bore 24 of the valve chamber by apassage 31 whilethe lower socket 30 is connected'to the valve chamber 23by a. similar passage 32.

The master valve 14 isadapted to be opened andclosedby means of a valveplug '33 having a frusto hemisphe rical head 34 adapted to seat againstthesharp edge of the stepped shoulder 25. The valve plug 33 is providedwith a tapped socket 35in its lower end for detachable connection withthe reduced threaded upper end of a vertical guiding stein 36, the lowerend of which is slidably fitted within a socket 37 centrally located inthe end cap member 26. The guiding stem 36 and attached valve plug 33are adapted to be normally held in their uppermost or closed" positionby means of a helical compression spring 38 surrounding said stem 36.

The valve plug 33 is adapted to be depressed against the action of thespring 38 by means of an elongated vertical shaft 39 having a-reducedlower end 40 for engaging the flat top of the frusto-hemisphcrical head34. The upper part of the shaft 39 is provided with an annular flange 41adapted to abut agai'nst the inturned end 42 of a shell member 43slidably mounted upon the upper part of the body member 18. The upperend of said shaft 39 is provided with a reduced pin 44 which is adaptedto be mechanically depressed by a suitable means forming a part of theclock mechanism 17.

The master valve 14 may also be manually operated whenever desired bygrasping the knurled outer surface of the shell member 43 and turning itin the proper direction. The knurled shell 43 has an enlarged lowersection 46 into which is riveted a laterally extending guide pin 47which is slidably engaged within an inclined cam slot 48 formed withinan upstanding arcuate plate 49 secured to the body member 18, as by apair of screws 50 (see Fig. 2). The right-hand edge of the plate 49 issplit at 51 and communicates with the slot 48, thus providing aresilient arm 52 which is adapted to press downwardly against the guidepin 47 for holding it firmly in any desired angular position. The words"on and off are preferably marked at the ends of the slot 48 to indicatewhether the valve is open or closed.

If it is desired to manually open the master valve 14, it will be onlynecessary to turn the knurled shell 43 in a clockwise direction untilthe guide pin 47 is opposite the word on".

plug 33 to unseat from the shoulder 25 and thus open the passage betweenthe inlet pipe 15 and the outlet pipe 13 (see Figs. 2 and 5).

Automatictiming mechanism The timing mechanism 1'7, which is employed tomechanically operate the master valve 14 at the desired predeterminedtimes, comprises the clock casing 171: having a dial plate 53 upon whichthe time of day is indicated by an hour hand 54 and a minute hand 55,said hands being rotated by a constant speed spring driven clockmovementgenerally indicated by the numeral 56 and adapted to be wound up by ahandle 57.

The clock movement 56 is supported by a pair of front and rear frameplates 58 and 59 adapted to be held in spaced relation by a plurality ofpillars 60. The clock movement 56 is adapted to be attached to the frontside of a rear mounting plate 61 adapted to be suitably connected to theback of the casing 1'7a.

The lower part of the dial plate 53 is provided with a pair of small Onand Off setting dials 62 and 63, each of said dials having the numerals1 to 12 marked thereon in a counter-clockwise direction. The settingdials 62 and 63 have shafts 64 and 65 extending therethrough, saidshafts 64 and 65 carrying setting pointers 66 and 6'7, respectively. Theshafts 64 and 65 extend rearwardly through the frame plates 58 and-59and the mounting plate 61' and are adapted to be rotated to the desiredtimes by manipulation of a pair of knurled knobs 66a and6'7a locatedbehind the mounting plate 61.

The shafts 64 and 65 have rigidly mounted thereon, intermediate thefront frame plate 58 and the dial plate 53, a. pair of cam followerdiscs 68 and 69 having radial lugs '70, '71 projecting therefrom.Slidably mounted on each of the shafts 64 and 65 are a pair of sleevecams '72 the sleeve cams '72 and '73 make one revolution every twelvehours.

The sleeve cams '72 and '73 are provided with cam faces 72a and '73:;arranged in alinement As will be understood, this action will cause thevalve with the lugs '70 and 71 of the discs 68 and 69.

Each of the cam faces 72a and 7311 have abrupt the forward ends of apair of horizontal rods '79 and 80, which are adapted to slide in slots81 provided in the frame plates 58 and 59. The rods '79 and are adaptedto be pressed forwardly by a pair of helical springs 82 and 83, asclearly shown in Figs. 4 and 6. By means of this construction it will beseen that the earns '72 and '73 will be held in their rearmost positionswhen the lugs '70 and '71 are engaging high portions of the cam faces72a and 73a, and conversely will be held in their foremost positionswhen the shoulders 72b and 731) have snapped over the lugs '70 and '71.

Attention is called to my prior application filed February 8, 1930, forthe timing mechanism, under Serial No. 426,845, now Patent No.1,951,027, Mar. 13, 1934.

In order to mechanically open or close the master valve 14 on the gasrange 10 at a predetermined time by means of the clock movement 56, saidclock movement 56 is'provided with a cam shaft 84 journaled inthe frameplates 58 and 59 intermediate the square shafts '79 and 80, and carryingon its forward endan indicating disc 85 having the words On, Off" andSet" marked thereon. The words on theindicating disc 85 are adapted tobe visible through a suitable aperture provided in the dial plate 53.The cam shaft 84 has an oval-shaped cam 86 rigidly mounted thereon, saidcam being positioned between a pinion gear 8'7 and a detent wheel 88als'tf'mounted on said shaft 84. The detent wheel 88 has a clockwisedirection at all times by means of a small coil spring 90 surroundingsaid shaft 84 between the frame plates 58 and 59. One end of the spring90 is attached to said shaft 84 and the other end to the rear frameplate 59, as clearly shown in Fig. 6. The detent wheel 88 is located inalinement with the rear ends of both of the square shafts "l9 and 80when said shafts '79 and 80 are-in their rearmost positions and out ofalinement therewith when said shafts 79 and 80 are in their foremostpositions.

The edge of the cam wheel 86 is adapted to contact atall times with acam follower roll 91 carried on one end of a roller shaft 92 rotatablyjournaled in the free ends of a pair of rocker arms 93. The oppositeends of the rocker arms 93 are journaled on a pivot shaft 94 and areadapted to be held in position by means of a coil spring 95 surroundingsaid pivot shaft 94. The rear end of the pivot shaft 94 is secured tothe mounting plate 61, and said coil spring 95 is located on said shaft94 intermediate the rocker arm 93 and said mounting plate 61. Across-rod 96 is carried by the rocker arms 93 directly behind the rollershaft 92, and is located directly above the vertical depression pin 44of the valve shaft 39, whereby vertical movement of the cross-rod 96will cause the valve 14 to be opened or closed, depending on thedirection of said movement.

the action of the coil spring,90, provision is made of a segment gear 97adapted to mesh with the end pinion gear 87. The segment gear 97 isstaked or otherwise secured to the forward end of a short shaft 98journaled in the mounting plate 61. The rear end of the shaft 98 carriesa crank arm 99 having a handle knob 100, by means of which the spring 90may be wound each time the clock is set. V

In order to place the 01001117 in operating position upon the mastervalve 14, the clock casing 17a is provided in its base 17b with acylindrical inverted cup-shaped shell 101 having a pair of outwardlyextending integral lugs or ears 102 and. 103 at its open end, by meansof which said shell 101 is rigidly secured to said base 17b, as by apair of screws 104 (see Fig. 2). The shell 101 is adapted to fit overthe knurled shell 43 of the master valve 14. The closed end of the shell101 is provided with a central aperture 105 through which the valvedepression pin 44 is allowed to protrude so as to be engaged by thecrossrod 96.

Operation In operation, assuming that it is desired to set the deviceso, that one or more of the individual gas burners 11 are to beautomatically turned on and off at predetermined times, as for example,On at 10:30 oclock and Off at 12 o'clock. The pet-cocks 12 controllingeach of the desired burners 11 to be lighted will first be opened, itbeing understood that no gas can escape'through the burners 11 at thistime because the main gas pipe 15 is shut off at the master valve 14.The set pointers 66 and 67 will then be rotated by means of the knurledknobs 66a and 67a until said pointers 66 and 6'7 indicate 10:30 and12:00 on the On and Off dials respectively. The crank arm 99 will thenbe manually rocked downwardly as far as it will go causing the cam shaft84 and detent wheel 88 to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction about270 degrees, or until the detent 88a is caught by the top face of thesquare shaft 80. The clock 1'7 will then be placed upon the master valve14 in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 When the first predeterminedtime, 10:30, ar ives, the square shaft 80 will be caused to slideforwardly out of alinement with the detent wheel 88 by means of theaction of the sleeve cam 73 and radial lug 71 on the follower disc 69.The detent, wheel 88 will then automatically rotate in a clockwisedirection under the action of the spring 90 until its shoulder 88a comesinto contact with the bottom face of the square shaft 79. This motionwill cause the cam 86 to force the cross rod 96 downwardly against thetop of the valve depression pin 44, thus opening the master valve 14 andallowing gas to flow through the open pet-cocks 12 and their respectiveburners 11. The burners will automatically be lighted in the customarymanner by means of pilot lights, not shown.

When 12 oclock" arrives, the square shaft '79 will automatically slideforwardly out of alinement with the detent wheel 88 permitting saidwheel 88 to rotate back to its original position with the shoulder 88aengaging against the stop pin 89, as shown in Fig. 6. This will permitthe cross-rod 96 under the influence of the spring 95 to swing upwardlyout of contact with the valve depression pin 44. The master vaive willthus be closed, shuttingoif the gas supply to the burners 11.

It is to be understood that, if desired, the gas range 10 may beoperated without the use of the clock mechanism 1'7 merely by settingthe master valve 14 at open position.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in whichthe invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form isshown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention isnot to be limited to the specific disclosure but may be modified andembodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. Inshort, the invention includes all the modifications and embodimentscoming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, andfor which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In an automatic gas control device, a valve casing having inletandoutlet gas ports, a valve operating member, time controlled means forautomatically depressing said vaive operating member to open said valve,a movable shell surrounding said casing and having means to engage saidvalve operating member, a pin on said shell, and a fixed plate on saidcasing having a cam slot to receive said pin, whereby manual rotation ofsaid shell will also depress the valve into open position.

2. In an automatic gas control device, a casing having inlet and outletports, a valve operating member in said, casing, a time-operated meansfor controlling said valve operating member for opening and closing saidvalve, and a manually operated sleeve member surrounding andindependently engaging the top of said valve operating member to permitmanual operation of said piston valve, a piston engaging rod extendingout I of said casing, time-controlled detachable means in alinement withsaid rod for automatically depressing it to open the valve after theexpiration of a predetermined interval of time, and a slidable invertedcup member surrounding said casing and engaging the upper part of saidrod for permitting said rod to be manually depressed to open the valveindependently of said time-operated means.

4. In an automatic gas control device, an elongated valve casing havingan interior seat for ,a. piston valve, a piston engaging rod extendingout of said casing, time-controlled detachable means in alinement withsaid rod for automatically depressing it to open the valve after theexpiration of a predetermined interval of time, a slidable inverted cupmember surrounding said casing and engaging the upper part of said rodfor permitting said rod to be manually depressed to open ing and havingmeans to engage said valve-controlling means to permit it to be manuallydepressed to open the valve, and means to-retain said shell in depressedposition as long as desired.

6. In an automatic gas control device, a valve casing, a slidable valvecontrolling member, said valve controlling member extending out of saidcasing, a lever member having a lateral pin in alinement with saidmeans, time-controlled means for rocking said lever to cause said pin tomove said member to valve-opening position, a depressible shellsurrounding said casing and having means to engage saidvalve-controlling means to permit it to be manually depressed to openthe valve, and means to retain said shell in depressed position as longas desired. a

7. In an automatic gas control device, a valve casing, said casinghaving a lower socket for receiving a valve guide rod, an elongatedvalve engaging rod located in the upper part of said casing, a manuallyoperated shell surrounding said casing'for engaging and depressing saidelongated rod, means to detachably lock said shell in depressedcondition; and independently operated timed automatic mechanism fordepressing said rod." 7

8. In an automatic gas control device, a valve casing, a. valvecontrolling member in said casing, a manually operated depressible shellhaving a lateral pin projecting therefrom, said shell having means forengaging and depressing said valve controlling member, means toreleasably hold said pin in depressed position, and detachable automatictime-operated mechanism engaging the end of said member for actuating itindependently of said manually operated means.

9. In an automatic gas control device, a valve casing, a valvecontrolling rod extending out of said casing, said rod having a flange,time controlled means in alinement with said rod for automaticallydepressing it to valve opening position after the expiration of apredetermined interval of time, and a manually depressible membersurrounding said casing and engageable with said flange for operatingsaid rod independently of said time controlled means.

10. In an automatic gas control device, a valve casing, a valve engagingrod extending out of said casing, said rod having a lateral projectionoutside of said casing, time controlled means in alinement with said rodfor automatically depressing it to valve opening position after theexpiration of a predetermined interval of time, and a detachablemanually operated inverted cup member for engaging and independentlyactuating the projection on said rod.

FREDERICK LUX.

